Pepper and Peppermint
by evolutionary spider
Summary: Before worrying about robots, death and destruction, Kate Brewster was just a normal 13-year old girl. In a few weeks her life will change when she meets a strange boy named John Connor.
1. Innocence

Disclaimer: The writer of this fan fiction does not in any way shape or form own Terminator 3 or any other area of the trilogy. Please do not sue, this is just for fun.  
  
Notes: Came up with the idea after watching T3, (how many times have I read this line on ff.net?) anyway and I figured why not. Like the summary says it's mainly centered on Kate, because I think she's the one that lost so much in T3, and I thought writing up what it must have been like for her before all this, before John Connor, would be interesting. There will be other aspects later on but for, let's just keep it simple and innocent.  
  
Pepper and Peppermint by: Evolutionary Spider  
  
Chapter 1: Innocence  
  
"Ugh, stupid machine." Robert Brewster looked up from his newspaper to see his 13-year-old daughter Kate, glare murderously at the computer monitor before her. She then just slouched against the chair and blew her reddish brown bangs from her face in frustration. A smile came to Mr. Brewster's face. He pushed down his newspaper over his lap and asked, "Something wrong honey?"   
  
"The computer isn't letting me get my saved essay, dad and it's due tomorrow." she answered back trying hard not to sound whiny. Robert folded his newspaper and set it aside as he got up from his chair. "Let's see what's going on." He walked toward where his daughter sat and placed his hands over the chair to see the screen. "How about you try this." he said as he reached over to the mouse and clicked on several folders and typed in several commands, all flying by Kate's head.  
  
Now more than ever she was convinced that technology was not the best career choice for her. She moved her head slightly to the side to see her father staring at the screen. She smiled as she saw her father's face. She felt happiness at seeing her father taking the time to help her. Not for the first time did she feel a sense of relief to know that her father is there to help her and take care of her. She noticed her father's firm and strong face, his twinkling blue eyes and even the wrinkles beginning to form from age. She breathed in the strong scent of his cologne accompanied with the scent that was uniquely his own. Her senses and memories of her father were all she could have, at this point, of parental comfort.  
  
A few times, usually in dreams, did she recall what her mother looked and smelt like. Kate knew that she was her mother, except for her eyes, which she got from her father. Yet even remembering what her mother looked like was becoming increasingly vague. Ever since her mother's death when she was 8, her father had taken care of her as best he could and tried to help her cope, by telling her stories of her mother. She sometimes needed photographs to remember her mother's appearance, but her mother's comforting scent would never leave her. It was a mix between the smell of sweet roses and of Windex, an odd mix indeed.  
  
It was in these dreams she could be with her mother and remembered her the most. She remembered trips to the park, beach, and zoo with her parents all the while her mother holding on to her in some way. The comforting feel of her mother's embrace when she fell down yet again from her bicycle, kisses good night, cookie flour in both their hair, mud stains on both their clothes from working in the garden. Best of all, she loved the dreams where she remembered the times her mother would sing a special lullaby to her, one she never knew the words to because they were in a different language. Nonetheless, at least in her dreams, her mother would not be forgotten.  
  
"There you go, Katie. Did you figure out how I accessed your file?" he said giving her a hopeful look. To make him happy, she smiled and said, "Yeah I understand now dad, thanks. I should have thought of that before." Mr. Brewster smiled pleased to make his daughter happy. "It's alright Katie. Say how about I get started on dinner?" "Great, I'm kinda hungry. What are we having?" "Mexican burritos stuffed with rice, chicken and beans with a bit of my famous spicy tortilla rolls on the side." he said proudly. "Sounds good, spicy, but good." she said smiling up at him. 'Heh, guess he's still on that Mexican kick.' He smiled back, "Alright but finish your homework kiddo, I'll call you when dinner's ready." With that he headed toward the kitchen.  
  
As Kate waited for her essay to print she smiled, 'Just me and dad, not a lot, but we'll make it.'  
  
End of Chapter 1  
  
Reviews are always nice, so don't be shy, for feedback fuels further than does silence. 


	2. Heaven

Disclaimer: Let's see we're at chapter 2 and I still am 'middle class' so no, I still don't own Terminator/2/3 or any aspect of the series. Don't sue because all I've got is...$5, lint and a pen, not much of a treasure if you ask me.  
  
Notes: Time to get this under way, by showing Kate's day. The focus is very much on her in this chapter and there might be a few spoilers in here, but I think if you've seen the movie you'll spot them. Hope this much longer chapter is well received. The future Spanish phrases (for yes there will be more) will be translated by me, so you won't have to worry about trying to figure out what the heck it says. Please understand that things that sound weird in our culture might sound different in others, this occurs a lot with text translated into our language, and the meaning gets altered at times. The song here is a classic Spanish lullaby that my mother sang to me, but the translation is pretty weird sounding. It's called "La muñeca vestida de azul", "The doll dressed in blue". I should mention in case there is a bit of doubt, Kate's mother doesn't have a Mexican/Latino heritage. Details on how she learned it will follow, but for now let's get on with it.  
  
Chapter 2: Heaven  
  
*+*+*+*  
  
"Tengo una muñeca vestida de azul  
  
zapatitos blancos y su velo azul  
  
La lleve a la playa se me costipo  
  
llegando a la casa se me enfermo"  
  
(I have a doll dressed in blue  
  
with little white shoes and a veil of blue  
  
took her to the beach, she got a runny nose  
  
on the way home she got sick)  
  
The soft lilting voice sang the Spanish lullaby, an American accent lightly coating the melody, yet the song's sweet tune flowed from Jane Brewster's lips. The woman in her late 20's sat on the rocking chair as she held the white bundle to her bosom. She gently rocked in the chair, watching as her little baby had calmed down and was lightly cooing at her with bright blue eyes.  
  
The young woman gave a sigh of relief. Her daughter was certainly a handful. She stared at the little girl and sang the song again hoping this time her daughter would fall asleep.  
  
"Tengo una muñeca vestida de azul  
  
zapatitos blancos y su velo azul  
  
La lleve a la playa se me costipo  
  
llegando a la casa se me enfermo"  
  
Jane smiled at Kate again when she saw that the little baby had fallen asleep, or so she thought, because as she got up to put Kate in her crib, Kate began to cry again in a loud wail. Rather than be frustrated, Jane laughed and shook her head. She rocked in the chair again and cooed at Kate to stop crying. "She played sleeping possum again?"   
  
Jane looked up to see her sleepy and disheveled husband leaning against the door frame, arms crossed. "Yes." As Jane shifted Kate she looked up at him and said, "I don't know what's wrong with her tonight, she seems anxious to not fall asleep. Every time I try to put her to sleep, she just keeps waking up." "Even after listening to her favorite lullaby?" he asked walking towards his wife and carefully taking Kate from his wife's arms. "Whatsa matter Katie? Don't wanna be away from mommy?" he said in a gentle tone. Kate only shifted in his arms, but lowered her crying, "Huh? Whatsa matter?" Jane got up from the rocking chair and let Robert sit down. "I think she just wanted to be near her daddy," Jane said while caressing Kate's face.   
  
At this action from her mother, Kate finally began to lower her eye lids. Both parents remained quiet watching their daughter sleep, feeling joy and love go through them at what they created together. After a few minutes, Robert slowly got up from the rocking chair and deftly put his daughter into the crib and covered her with a light blue blanket. Jane and Robert were on opposite sides of the crib as they looked down, both confirming that this time Kate was indeed asleep.  
  
"She's so beautiful." Jane whispered. "She takes after her mother." Robert whispered back as he looked up at his wife. Jane gave him a smile in return. "I bet that she'll act like her father though. She has the same look in her eyes like yours." Jane whispered as she looked down toward Kate. "She's meant for great things. Every time I look at her, I feel like she's going to grow up to be a great kid, maybe a great leader when she's an adult." "Well with a historical military name like Katherine, she can't miss." Jane said while laughing softly at her husband's decision for the name. "Come on, let's get some sleep." She took his hand and led him out of the room, closing the door behind her. Both parents walked back to their bedroom, never knowing that a pair of haunting red eyes were glowing from their daughter's window. Their light somehow extended into the room and the twin lights making their way closer to the baby. They stopped exactly on Kate's head. There was the sound of a whir followed by a gun shot.  
  
*+*+*+*  
  
Kate sat up with a gasp. She panted as she put a hand to her forehead. Her eyes widened slightly when she felt the sweat on her brow. When she calmed down enough to look around her, she looked up to her window. With trepidation she slipped out of bed and walked towards the window. Her hand slowly reached for the white curtains and in one quick movement she separated them, only to find nothing. She looked out of her second story window at the darkness before her, carefully scrutinizing everything from the cool grass below her to the tall tree next to her window. Feeling foolish for being scared over a dream she walked to her bed and sat down in silence.  
  
'What was that? It felt so real...like it was a memory. But how?' she thought as she looked up to see her vanity table to where a picture of her mother was taped to the mirror. 'The song mom sang...this is the clearest I've heard those words.' She stared back at her window, 'What about those red eyes? They weren't even eyes, more like weird red lights...this is all so confusing!' She thought angrily as she let her head fall back onto her pillows. With a sigh she covered her body with her blankets again. 'I being completely stupid. It's just a dream. It's not real and it doesn't mean anything. I can't let myself get so worked up on something so dumb.' Her eyes began to drift close and she fell into a dreamless sleep.  
  
~~~  
  
Robert Brewster looked at his daughter who was hardly eating her cereal. One hand under her chin, the other turning her spoon slowly in the bowl, the girl's mind seemed miles away. "Are you stirring it till it turns into oatmeal?" Her father's voice, shook Kate out of her thoughts. "I'm sorry did you say something dad?" She saw her father smile and repeat his question, "Yes, I asked you if your stirring your cereal until it turns into oatmeal?" At this she looked at her bowl to see that she'd created a cereal mush. Blushing slightly she left the spoon alone and picked up the bowl to throw away the mess.   
  
"Katie, is something wrong? You seem like you got a lot on your mind?" At this Katie looked up at her father. 'I don't want to tell him that I got freaked out by a stupid dream. I gotta let this go.' Putting on a smile she hoped reached her eyes, "Nope. Nothing's wrong, I'm just thinking about school." Ah, school, the all purpose excuse, one that Kate was not excluded from using if she was trying to hide something from her father. Her father however, did not appear to buy her response, but to her relief dropped the matter nonetheless. The sound of a car horn honking broke the silence. "Alright kiddo, you better get going. I'll be back from the base at 1700 hours." her father said standing up and giving her a kiss on the forehead. "Alright, bye dad." Kate hastily kissed her dad on the cheek before grabbing her back pack and running out, the front door slamming behind her.  
  
She walked down her driveway toward a red mini-van. She opened the door and got in. "Hey K." came the greeting from the girl in the passenger seat. "Hey Christy." Kate said to her best friend as she closed the door behind her and buckled herself in. "Good morning, Mrs. Johnson." Kate said politely to Christy's mother. "Good morning, Kate." Mrs. Johnson replied back as she drove off, passing other homes.  
  
"Hey Kate, did you study for that biology test? Not that you need to, since your the smartest person in that class anyway." Christy said giving her a mock glare. Kate smirked at her and said, "If studying makes me the smartest, then you not studying makes you the...?" she let the question hang in the air. Christy looked at her in indignation, before laughing and throwing her black beret at Kate. Both girls laughed as they kept throwing the hat to each other. "Christina." came the stern voice of Mrs. Johnson. Christy visibly became startled, before she settled down and looked at her mother, "Yes momma?" she said in a sugary sweet tone hoping she wouldn't get in trouble. "Don't you 'momma' me young lady? Did you study for that test?" "Yeah, momma I did, honestly." she added at her mother's suspicious look.   
  
As Christy looked ahead, she watched the street marks all fly by her, their passing motion reflecting in her green eyes. "I believe you, Christy. I just wanted to make sure that you studied this time." Mrs. Johnson said while briefly looking at her daughter, who also looked back. Both smiled and then looked ahead of them. After the exchange the car was filled with silence, one that Kate felt bad in. She couldn't help feeling a pang of jealousy toward Christy. Christy had her mother, alive and loving her. What did Kate have? A chest box and a few memories. Kate felt a bit depressed thinking about that.   
  
The rest of the drive was spent in silence and in 10 minutes the girls arrived at school. Kate repressed any negative emotions, choosing to deal with them later. Christy told her mother good bye and stepped out of the mini-van. She adjusted her black beret over her shoulder length light brown hair. She had curled the tips and they went off into different directions, just the way Christy liked it. She wore her usual jewelry of a pair of earrings and several bracelets. She wore a red silk plaid shirt with a black skirt that went a bit above her knee. On her feet she wore her beloved red sneakers. No matter how much Kate tried to get it out of her, Christy never said why she loved sneakers like that so much, but she was known for buying a pair every year.   
  
Looking at her, Kate felt a distinct feeling like Christy was dressed for something special even though it was just her normal everyday clothes. Kate looked down at her own appearance. She actually looked girlish for once. She'd put her own shoulder length slightly wavy hair in a half pony tail, a few loose tendrils framing her face. She'd worn no jewelry today and had picked a simple light blue long sleeved shirt with a white skirt. Her feet were donned with simple white sneakers.   
  
Both girls walked inside the building and headed for their lockers. As Kate turned the combination on hers, she heard a frustrated grunt from her left behind her. At that moment the locker door was banged open blocking her view of the person. All she could see was that by the way the person was dressed that it was definitely a boy. She turned around back to her own locker and picked the books she would need for her first class. Christy meanwhile could not contain herself as she squealed in glee, the sound hurting Kate's ears. She peered over the Christy's shoulder to see that a blue envelope was inside the locker.   
  
"What's that?" Kate asked as she closed her own locker. Christy smiled wistfully and handed her the letter. Kate saw the white paper with the neat penmanship and read the letter out loud,  
  
"Dear Christy,  
  
You don't know me, but I am someone who has been graced with your presence. I don't know how many times I've seen you walk down the halls of this school and had my heart stop just seeing you. Your beauty glows brighter every time I see you face. Your smile is worth more to me than anyone can comprehend. Your eyes glow with a curious nature that stirs me every time I see them. Your hair, like the finest silk strands are what I long to touch. I find myself staring at you everyday that I can, but make sure you never see me, lest you figure out who I am. However I will still look upon your beautiful grace. Perhaps one day I will tell you who I am, but for now I will remain as the one that admires you from afar.  
  
-signed your secret admirer."   
  
Kate laughed at her friend's dopey expression. Christy took the last of the books she needed, humming to herself before she closed her locker. Kate inspected the letter further to try to get any hints as to who had written it. As she read it in her head, she wondered if perhaps it was a joke, but before she could voice her concerns, Christy spoke up, "Oh this is great! Someone actually likes me, Kate. Me, Christina Johnson has a secret admirer, this is so cool. I'll admit the letter is a little corny and weird, but I still think the person who wrote it must have a poet's heart. I bet he's dreamy too." Kate had to laugh at that as she handed the letter back, "Christy you've never met the guy, how can you tell if he's cute?" Christy put the letter inside her history book. "Ok so I can't, but chances are that a guy that can write something as nice and sweet as this has got to be a decent looking guy right?"  
  
Before Kate could answer, Christy continued. "I gotta find out who wrote this. I mean what if meeting this person is my destiny." she said. "Your destiny? Your destiny is a guy you've never met, but can write a nice secret admirer letter?" Kate questioned. She knew her best friend could sometimes be a little out there, but this had to take the cake. "I forgot who I'm speaking with, Mrs. Destiny-Does-Not-Exist." "Well it doesn't? It's not like you or I are going to find the ones we're destined to be with here in Norman Rockwell Junior High." Christy sighed, "Yeah I guess. Maybe your right, I mean this could also just be a joke. I just think...well I just like to think that destiny does exist. Fate is so uncertain, ya know. It's something we have to make for ourselves. Destiny though just makes it set in stone and only takes you on a wild goose chase that will help you reach the written end. Maybe I'm being a weirdo again." Christy said laughing it off as a joke. Kate knew what that laugh meant and seeing how her cynicism had affected her friend she thought of something to cheer her up.  
  
"I bet we could find him, if this isn't a joke that is. It wouldn't be that hard, in fact I think I figured out a way to find out who wrote this." Christy smiled at Kate, "Really?" "Yeah, sure, how about we start today after school. Finding out who did it could be fun." "Cool! After school it is then. Well hey I gotta go, don't want to make the Gibsonator angry for being late again. I'll see you in third. Bye." Christy waved as she rushed off. "Bye." Kate waved to her friend as she turned to head right back the way they'd come, choosing to take the short cut to get to her first period class. She walked on thinking about Christy's words. 'Still the idea of meeting the guy your meant to be with at this age seems too early and unpredictable in my opinion. Figuring out this secret admirer guy, will be fun though and who knows, if it's not a joke, then in the end Christy will get what she's looking for.' With that out of the way, she continued on to her first class.  
  
End of Chapter 2  
  
End Notes: I dedicate this chapter to my mother. I would like to thank those that reviewed the previous chapter, thank you for your kind words; they helped to jumpstart this chapter. I hope this one did not deflate your expectations.   
  
For those that will flame me, because one can never expect to be liked by all, I should hope that your reasons are good and that your flame is based on solid constructive criticism. This way both ends will become better.  
  
Reviews are a reader's nicest actions, especially those that help to make the writer better and help them have a reason to keep it going, so please review. :-)  
  
Chapter 3 Preview Summary: Enter John Connor, stage left. They say every boy has his day, but this 13 year-old boy doesn't. Meanwhile Kate and Christy begin the search for the secret admirer, with their first shocking and hilarious results. 


	3. Hell

Note: "When demons are tamed, the rancheros ride again."-proverb. It has been long enough and I must write again. For those that did not see the original "chapter 3" it gave a very late explanation as to why I had not written in awhile. Despite my cousin's death, he would not want me to be like this, for as long as I have been. He would wish for me to be the true spider I am and continue spinning my web for the world. I dedicate this chapter for my cousin, simply because something he said, and only now do I remember it, inspired me. On a side note, thank you to my reviewers, all things said helped. You're all pretty cool.  
  
WARNING: Some swearing in this chapter.  
  
Pepper and Peppermint by: Evolutionary Spider  
  
Chapter 3: Hell  
  
(John's POV)  
  
If I could define one thing that's the most annoying in my life, it's gotta be school. Not my past, not my stupid foster parents, not even my psycho mom. School. I'd like to bag the whole idea, I've even ditched a couple of times. It all ends up on my 'crowded' record anyway, so who cares, right? The whole place is some messed up institution for kids like me. Me and my friends agree, school just reminds us about how messed up our lives are.   
  
Even now as Janelle is yelling at me to get up, school is messing up my life. With a certain amount of frustration, I pull the blue comforter even tighter towards me. I can't think of any reasons why getting up and going to school today would be any useful. It's not like I'm already not ahead of them anyway.  
  
Suddenly I'm reminded of why I even have to go to school. Not even a good reason either, but it sure as hell will make the next few days interesting. I push off the comforter from my bed and smirk as I see that Janelle gave up trying to get me to wake up. She's not all that authoritative or whatever, neither of my foster parents are actually. I see little things like this as finally breaking their control.  
  
I get up and stretch out, all the while scratching my stomach. I take two steps before I let myself fall forward and get into position to do my usual morning pushups. It's something my mom always made me do, from the day I was 7 to the day she went nuts. I've never understood why I've always done them, even after she's gone. After awhile it all became routine crap, like sleeping and eating, I don't think about it and just do it.   
  
I'm done with all 30 in a matter of minutes and head off to use the can and shower. It's only when I'm finally in the shower do I actually start to feel better. It's also the time when I actually look and touch my body. I find myself doing that as I wash my skin, my hands skimming over the scars on my body. I don't remember where I got them all. Some came from my mother's military training and the rest from fights with the bozos at my school.  
  
The fresh purple bruise on my rib cage is an example of the latter. Got it yesterday from some muscle head who doesn't know when to quit. It's alright though, not like he left in great shape. Despite my size, I'm a lot stronger than I look, and his bloody nose, courtesy of me is proof of that.  
  
After the shower I head back to my room and tug my clothes on as fast as I can. No elaborate wardrobe, like the preps wear at my school. Just a simple pair of ripped jeans, and a grunge shirt will do. The only piece of clothing I actually care about is my military jacket. Mom, told me it belonged to my dad, as in my real dad. Since I never knew the guy, this is as physically close as it's gonna get. Guess it's kinda pathetic, but I don't think about that too often.   
  
"Nice of you to fucking grace us with your presence." is the first thing I hear as I walk into the kitchen. I look over to see an annoyed glance coming from Todd. I don't say anything as I go the fridge and take out the orange juice carton. Before I even do anything, Janelle rhetorically reminds me to use a glass this time. I feel like yelling at her that just cause I did it once or twice doesn't mean I drink straight from the carton all the time. And it's not like I'm Todd, who does it all the time. I don't say what I'm thinking, knowing that if I do, I might be stuck here longer than I want to be.  
  
"John, your mother and I have to talk to you." I stop drinking my juice when I hear that. 'Janelle? My mother? What the hell's he thinking? That he's my dad? Pfft, what a joke.' "TODD, what do you and JANELLE want?" I say stressing their names. I don't think I'll ever see them as my parents, or anyone's parents for that matter.  
  
"John, don't take that tone with us." The look on Janelle's face told me she didn't have the patience today to deal with me, but it's not like that's ever stopped me before. "Well then MOM, what tone would you like me to take?" I smirked and began to down the rest of my juice.  
  
"John, we need to talk to you about your grades. We've seen how they've improved much more than before." Todd said after drinking some of his coffee. 'Yeah now I have a C average.' I thought wondering where this was going. "Yes, we're happy about that, but we want you to keep it up so we've asked the school to get you a tutor." My fingers clenched tightly on the glass I was holding. 'I can't believe they're gonna force me to have a stupid tutor. I feel like just yelling at them with the truth. Hn, they wouldn't believe me anyway, but it's not like I don't know what they're up to.' "This is your new plan to keep me from going out and getting arrested again?" I asked rather bluntly. At this Janelle's eyes widened. "If you stay at home more, then that gives you less time to be a worthless little punk when your out on the streets." Todd replied getting up now. "Todd!" Janelle said to him, trying to prevent the oncoming fight. "What do you care, what I do? It's not like you love me or any shit like that? You only keep me around for the monthly check!" "John that's not true-" Janelle began before Todd interrupted her. "How do you expect anyone to give a damn about you with your fucking attitude?!" "Like you're Father of the Year! All you do when you get home is drink and smoke in front of the fucking TV set! Just stay out of my life and stop pretending you care!"   
  
I'm out the door and out on my motorbike fast enough to avoid whatever Todd was going to yell next. I glance at my left wrist where my watch is and see that I'm gonna be late. Cursing under my breath, I go faster, not caring if the cops spot me. I have to get to school at least with a few minutes to spare or else Matt's gonna think I didn't come through. 'They made me late.' I think angrily. I try to forget about them as I think about Matt.  
  
Matt's my best friend and a pretty cool one at that. His real name's Tim, but most people call him Matt. We do a lot of rad stuff together, and he's cool to hang with. He's one of the first people I opened up to when I came to this school and thinks that the stuff I can do is pretty cool. Most people at this lame school, just look right through us. Only he knows about my hidden 'talents'. The rest of my friends just think I'm another normal grunge case like them. As much as I'd like to be a normal kid, shit, even a normal dysfunctional kid, it'd be some great lie. How many kids my age know how to make a pipe bomb? How many know how to hack into bank and security systems? Hell I bet most of the dipshits at my school, don't even know the first thing about fixing cars.  
  
I'm surprised as I pass by the school clock and see that I made it in half the time I thought it was going to take. I steer my bike into the parking lot and ride closer till I see Matt. When he notices it's me, he smiles and gets off his own motorbike, taking his backpack and black boom box with him. I park right next to him and shut off my bike.  
  
"Hey" I say with a nod, as I get off my bike. "Hey John." I wouldn't think anything of what he's said if I hadn't noticed the smile on his face. I raise an eyebrow at the look, but he doesn't notice as he starts walking away toward the main building. As I walk with him I notice the way he's dressed today. He actually looks clean for once. 'Jesus even his clothes look like they're ironed.' is what I think as we walk into the building. For a normal guy, paying attention to another guy's clothes isn't usual, but for a guy like me, who's been trained to pay attention to details, even something like this wouldn't escape my eye.   
  
"So man, did you get it?" Matt asks once we get to our locker aisle. He looks around him, already scoping it out to make sure no one's looking at us, at all.   
  
"Yeah, made it out yesterday. This'll be killer." I say with a smirk as I take out the blue envelope from my jacket pocket. I hand it over to him and he opens it up and begins reading it as we get closer. When he's done he starts chuckling as he looks at me. "Where did you come up with this shit?" "Dunno, but do you think it's believable?" I ask him. "Yeah man, she's gonna swoon when she reads it. Makes me want to be late to class just to see the whole thing." With that he licks the envelope's open edge to seal it and then hands it to me. Finally we've reached locker number 345. With out a signal, Matt bends down to tie his shoe while I quickly put it in the locker. I start to walk away just as Matt finishes and stands up next to me.  
  
"Did anyone see us?" I ask him quietly as we walk away calmly. "Nah man. We were clear." He says with a smirk on his face. We high five each other and he heads off to his locker and I go to the opposite locker aisle, to get to mine.  
  
I glance at my watch again and see I have time to use the bathroom so I go inside, but not before I see our intended target turn the corner into this locker aisle. I smirk as I go in congratulating myself on getting phase one of the prank done. The smirk leaves my face though as I see the very muscle head that I duked it out with yesterday after school. Normally I wouldn't be jumpy, but this time the dickwad brought friends. 'Like my life doesn't already bite enough, I gotta deal with assholes like Seth Cutter.'  
  
"Well, well, well if it isn't little John Connor." The two goons behind him laughed at what he said like it was the funniest thing on earth. I put up a brave front, it wasn't that I was afraid of Seth Cutter, I wasn't even bothered by the inch or two he had over me, it's the odds that got me tense. '3 against 1, not good, not good.'   
  
"How's the nose Cutter?" I ask already putting on my smirking mask of no fear. His brown eyes flashed angrily staring straight into my own. "Not so good Connor especially after what you did to it. I think I oughta return the favor. What do you think guys?"  
  
"Yeah Seth, make the fucker pay." The one with the spiky red hair said from behind him. While the other one just kept punching his fist into his palm, ready to pound me. Seth signaled for his friends to go ahead and they went after me like rabid dogs, each one punching me. I punched them back, but eventually they each just took a hold of one of my arms and held me as a I struggled. Seth smiled before he lunged forward and punched me hard enough to knock the wind outta me. The other two just let me drop on the floor. All three laughed at me as I was on the floor curled up and holding on to my stomach. Seth bent down and roughly pulled my hair till our eyes met, "I'm not done with you yet Connor. After school I'll come back to break your face." I met his gaze angrily before gasping out, "I look forward to it."  
  
After that Seth let my head drop and all three of them left laughing. I could hear them even from the floor and the whole thing made me angrier. I don't know how long I was down there before I slowly got up and dragged myself to the mirror. I winced when I noticed a bruise on the right side of my face. It wasn't going to be that noticeable, but I knew that later on I'd feel it. I lifted up my shirt and just groaned when I saw the new bruises there. I washed and dried my face fast, moving part of the long strands of my hair in the way to cover it up.   
  
Satisfied that I didn't look suspicious I just got the hell outta there and rushed to my locker. I turned the combination on frantically, didn't want to be late for some reason. When it didn't open, I grunted in frustration and banged it open. I dumped my back pack on the locker's floor and reached inside for my things, but not before I heard some girl squeal. I chuckled knowing exactly who it came from. I was glad the locker door was big and covered up the whole length of my body, letting me spy on what was going on between the two girls as they looked over the blue envelope. 'Hehe, this is gonna be great.' I thought as I grabbed my biology book and notebook.  
  
I looked over, only half pretending to look in the mirror on my locker door. I fixed my hair better to cover the bruise up. "..signed your secret admirer." I looked over to see that Christy Johnson's best friend K-something, had read the last line of the letter. Rather than see the expression I thought I was going to see, the other girl laughed. She laughed...at my letter...what the hell could have been so damn funny about it. She looked at the letter as Christy began babbling on about it. I diverted my attention from her to her friend.  
  
I looked at her and wondered why she was dressed differently. Something about the skirt and shirt made her seem...softer, girly or something. Very different from the jeans and shirts she usually wore. I let my gaze wander from her feet all the way up to her face. I saw her lips move and began to tune in again to the conversation.  
  
"Christy you've never met the guy, how can you tell if he's cute?" 'What?' I thought surprised. Christy put the letter inside her history book. "Ok so I can't, but chances are that a guy that can write something as nice and sweet as this has got to be a decent looking guy right? I gotta find out who wrote this. I mean what if meeting this person is my destiny." she said. I had to smile at how weird Christy could be, still...destiny...between me and Christy? I'd never thought about something like that with anyone, much less with Christy Johnson. It was all a joke anyway, but the idea didn't make me freak out.   
  
"Your destiny? Your destiny is a guy you've never met, but can write a nice secret admirer letter?" Something about the way that girl said that, made me think that the whole thing might not have been a good idea. 'Kate! That's her name...I think.'   
  
I tuned out the rest of the conversation, and closed my locker beginning to walk to class. As I walked near them I caught the words "him" and "after school" before I walked ahead of Christy who also had biology with Gibson. I tried to keep ahead of her, but we ended up side by side. Me indifferent and her looking like she was off in her own little world. The more I looked at her the more I didn't get why Matt doesn't like her, she seems like a harmless space case. The way he described her, she seemed like the most annoying person in the world. In class she was pretty normal and didn't stand out that much. 'I think this is the first time I've actually looked at her.' As I walked into Gibson's class and sat down in my seat in the back.   
  
Whatever happened with this prank, I just hoped that Christy would take it as a joke and not get that mad. Well maybe now Matt would get the revenge that he wanted.   
  
End of Chapter 3  
  
(as if you didn't already know ^_^)  
  
End notes: This is the second time I update this chapter because the first version had errors on it. I hope you liked it. So sorry if I contracted the dreaded OOC writing syndrome, didn't mean too. The only things I know about John's younger life are mostly from what I've seen in T2, but I still tried to make the POV his and of an immature guy. I hope I did well on this chapter. The next one will show up in 24 hours cause of FF.NET update time and the description for it along with chapter 5 are on my profile.  
  
Nice, silly or constructive reviews would be cool. My friend told me that she uses flames for making enchiladas con salsa verde (enchiladas with green hot sauce). Yumm. So if I get any, I'll use them to make tamales de maíz (corn tamales) and give them to the flamers as a peace offering. ^_^ Sorry I'm a hungry teenager right now who needs scarfage aka FOOD. And now because these are long overdo and I just felt like doing them I'm introducing....  
  
SPIDER'S SHOUT OUTS!  
  
(Hope the title makes ya crack a chuckle)  
  
Mara Trinity Scully: Thanks. Heck you were my first reviewer and gave me the inkling that maybe I wasn't going to end up in ff.net reject barrel. Glad you liked the letter and yes I'm going to have a Kate and John kissing scene but not before I have them do...other physical things. Afterall, who said kissing was the first step to love?  
  
MaliciousByNature: Perhaps it's because I don't know you that well, but you don't seem to be your namesake. You actually seem pretty nice. Thanks for the advice. If I still flub up in spacing the dialogue, just throw a terminator doll at my head or something.  
  
HyperActivePyroBunny: lol, I like your reviewing style. Short, sweet and to the point. Although it's the opposite of my own, yours seems to pack a bigger punch. It's cool like that.  
  
StarStealer: Thanks for reviewing, if you see this update I hope you like it as well.   
  
Anonymous: I hope you like this next chapter. What did you mean by T3 book? There is such a thing? Sounds cool. I hope you tell me where I find it. Thanks for your suggestions on Kate and John, they helped give me a great idea, plus helped me solve a question I had. If you got any more suggestions, fire away.  
  
WeBuiltThisCityOnRockAndRoll/Chelsea: Thanks for your kind words towards my cousin's death. Your reviews cheered me up and helped get me out of that sad state of emptiness. Who knew writing makes people forget stuff? Anyway no a lighter note, I don't know what Edward Furlong looks like now. If you could link a pix of him then I might agree with you. Hell since you seem to like the guy more than anyone I've ever met, maybe you can find out for me what his real eye color is. O.O so I can be accurate and stuff.  
  
Now that I've got that outta my chest. I'm gonna start fixing the next chapter and send it on it's way.----Laterz dudes and dudettes. R/R. 


	4. AntiRomeo and Juliet Act I

Authors Note: Sorry for taking so long to write. Had a big writer's block, but I was finally able to get that thing out of my way. When this was originally written it was 10 or so pages long. Yeah something that definitely had to be broken down, which I did into 2 parts. In this chapter the focus is more on Matt, Christy and the people around John and Kate. The second part is about why Matt dislikes Christy (and vice versa). I know I probably have some grammar errors and it may get a little confusing, but just bear with me, it'll make sense at the end. Please read and review.   
  
(Some swearing is in this chapter too)  
  
  
  
Pepper and Peppermint by Evolutionary Spider  
  
Chapter 4: Anti-Romeo and Juliet- Act I  
  
Matt walked off after he high-fived his friend. He pulled the straps on his back pack tighter as he walked to the end of the hallway. Sensing something behind him, he turned his head to look over his shoulder. He was able to see Kate Brewster talking with Christy Johnson, the letter in her hand. He smirked, but continued on until he reached the end of the hallway and his locker. He worked the combination and popped open the door. He turned his boom box vertically and placed it at the bottom of his locker. He took out his history book and a red note book, before he placed the items in his backpack.  
  
He looked at the mirror he had on his own locker door. Distractedly, he set his back pack down and looked at himself again. His blue eyes looked into the mirror's reflection, the gaze narrowing ever so slightly. He ran a hand through his red hair, making the fuzzy spikes even more wild. He was about to close the locker, when it was slammed shut by someone else. Matt glared slowly at the girl in front of him. The girl just stared ahead of her as she leaned on the lockers behind her. The girl's soft almost monotonous voice reached his ears.  
  
"You look fine, apostle. Why would you suddenly contemplate your appearance? Are you experiencing self-esteem issues? If you are, we both know of a way to get rid of them." she said smiling slyly. "Arghh, don't call me that Lorelei," he said in annoyance, "and it's none of your business what I was doing." "Oh, but I know what you were doing apostle, I just wanted to know why." she said now turning her head to look at him.  
  
Matt looked at her from head to toe. He looked at her pale face, accented with dark makeup. Her short black hair was spiked slightly, but still made it noticeable that she was a girl. His gaze traveled down the curves of her body, hidden by a red long sleeved shirt that had a black t-shirt over it. Her blue jeans were slightly baggy and ripped at the knees. Old black sneakers completed her self-proclaimed "anti-social" ensemble.   
  
"Like what you see apostle?" she asked smirking. His gaze returned back to her face. Lorelei Fisher, in her own mysterious dark way was cute, any guy with eyes could see that. Matt looked at her striking green eyes and remembered a similar pair. "But they're not the same." he muttered in a low voice. Lorelei raised an eyebrow at this, "What's not the same?" Matt shook his head, almost like coming out of a spell and picked up his backpack. "You." "Apostle, now your not making any sense." she said as the two of them walked toward their next class. "Lorelei, why do you even hang out with me, John and the rest of the guys?" "You guys are fun to watch. Your stupidity and future careers as criminals is something worth documenting for a later reward." she said matter-of-factly. "Pretty stupid reason, if you ask me." "Well I didn't, lover boy." Matt visibly winced when he heard the nick name. Without another word he walked into his history class and took his seat.  
  
~~~  
  
Lorelei watched him from the doorway unnoticed. A small look of sadness appeared on her face, before an indifferent one took it's place. She walked down the hallway towards her English class. She noticed a group of jocks laughing and talking. She noticed their leader was quiet and seemed to be ignoring all of them. His arms were crossed as he leaned against the lockers. His head was lowered, but as if sensing someone was watching him, he lifted his gaze on her. Green and purple met during that one expanse of time, two strangers connecting through one look. She was the first to break away from the stare and moved on. Neither were affected by what their curious gazes had seen, their indifference covering it up just the same.  
  
~~~  
  
Kate walked in to her class and silently groaned to herself when she saw that their teacher had written 'NEW ASSIGNMENT TODAY' on the board. She flopped down in her seat and sighed. She opened her backpack and took out her things just as the teacher walked in. Her fellow classmates were talking quietly amongst themselves. She let out a small sigh when she noticed Paul Ramirez walk quietly into the classroom a few seconds before the bell rang. This made Mrs. Alders stand up from her desk.   
  
"Alright my young historians, settle down. Today I've decided to give you your newest assignment, a presentation." Groans and moans were heard throughout the class. "Alright alright, your enthusiasm is duly noted. Although I think this assignment will surprise some of you and be one that most of you will enjoy. Your assignment," she said as she passed out papers with the guidelines on them, "is to pick a time period in history and make a presentation about it. The presentation will be given aloud to the class in teams of two, picked by me. There's a catch however, each team must present information based on the time period in a creative manner. Whether it's in a song, a video, a skit, etc. The point of this assignment, is for all you to break away from conventional methods of presentation and learn to express your inner creativity. While what you present must be partly factually, you may also bring up interesting points for contemplation."   
  
"Interesting points for contemplation, Mrs. Alders? So if my partner and I make a cartoon about World War II and how the X-Men would have effected that, we can?" The whole class laughed at Matt's question. Kate smiled and looked to her right to see the boy smirking. Mrs. Alders smiled at the question and waited for the class to settle down again, "Yes Mr. Carrington, that would technically be allowed so long as you do include factual information, however if you value your grade I suggest you look elsewhere for a topic on this assignment." She picked up the clip board in front of her and spoke again, "Alright I want all of you to have enough time today to brainstorm with your partners and get started on this since it will be due by Monday. That gives all of you one week to complete this assignment."   
  
She began to read off the names of those paired up. Kate looked in front of her to where Paul sat. She hoped she got to be paired up with him. Kate's ears perked up when she heard her name. "Ms. Brewster you will be paired up with...," Mrs. Alders scanned the list as Kate waited in anticipation, "Mr. Carrington." If Kate were a balloon she would have been deflated by now. She looked over at her partner who winked at her in return. She rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. 'This is going to be a long week.' Kate thought.  
  
After Mrs. Alders finished reading off the names, the class began to pair up and start working on their projects. Matt pulled his desk closer to Kate and opened up his notebook. "So, any ideas for this presentation, partner?" Kate opened up her own notebook before she spoke, "Well if you nix the whole X-Men thing, I think it would be a good idea if we did a presentation on World War II." "Yeah whatever, that's fine." he said as he wrote down something on his notebook. Kate took our her history book and spoke again "Ok then, now all we have to do is decide what topic we want to talk about and just how we're going to present it. I think we should combine our strengths and come up with a really wild presentation. That should get us an A on this thing. What do you think?" Kate said as she looked at him. She saw that he was ignoring her and was doodling in his notebook instead. She took a closer look to see what he was drawing. That's when she noticed that he'd drawn different types of guns and tanks on the pages. To her surprise though, she saw that he was drawing what looked like a cartoon girl in the corner of one of the pages.   
  
"Hey these are pretty good." Kate's comment startled him out of his thoughts. He finally looked up to see her staring at his notebook. He quickly shut it and was about to put it in his backpack, when her hand on his shoulder stopped him. "What are you doing?" he asked. "I just want to see your drawings. They gave me an idea for our project," she said as she looked at him, "Please."  
  
Matt stared at her hard, before he let go of his notebook and gave it to her. "Just whatever you do, don't look at the first 10 pages." "Why don't-" "Just don't." he interrupted her defensively. Kate counted the pages and then opened the note book again. She flipped through the pages to see different types of guns and weapons. Some she recognized from her trips to her father's base, and some she'd never even seen. She stopped at a particularly unique looking one.  
  
"Hey what's this one called? It looks really high tech." Matt looked at the one she was point at and felt a little embarrassed. "Oh, um that one isn't exactly on the market." he said hoping she wouldn't ask anymore about it. "Hmm, why not? Looks pretty cool, like something from the future. I bet my dad would love to see a gun like this." Matt's ears perked up at hearing this, "Really? You think so?" "Yeah, so what's it called?" Matt shifted in his seat nervously, "It doesn't have a name yet, cause...well...it doesn't exist." "What?" Kate asked confused, "You mean you designed this on your own?" Matt nodded slowly. Kate continued to stare at it, before flipping the page, "This is pretty cool Matt. Either you're going to become a cartoonist or a weapons design expert." "Huh, you think so?...Nah, I don't exactly have the grades to do anything special. I'm just a hack." Matt said modestly. "With a lot of potential. Besides who knows what the future will be like right? For all you know, when you get older you can design weapons like these for some future war or something." she said smiling at him. Matt felt a small blush coming on, not used to being complimented.  
  
"Who's this?" she asked pointing to the picture of a boy. "Oh that's my best friend, John, John Connor. Do you know him?" Kate stared at the picture in front of her, noticing the detail of his face. "I think I have, but I'm not sure." "Yeah well he's cool and he's into weapons too. It's different though cause he's Mr. Military or something, he knows his stuff." Kate smiled again, "He seems pretty cool." She continued to flip through the other pages and saw pictures of his friends, some of artillery and some of ordinary things. They went on like this for a few minutes talking about the pictures. Kate eventually brought up her idea for the project.  
  
"I think it'd be good." "I dunno, I don't exactly like showing most people my drawings." he said taking the notebook back. "Then why'd you show me?" "Because you didn't think they sucked. I can tell when most people are full of shit and don't really like them. You're different." he said as he twirled his pencil between his fingers. "Well look, we don't have to show them these, besides we need pictures of 1940's weaponry. Come on I think it's a good idea. We'll talk about how World War II brought about the advancement of new and improved inventions. Besides we also need to look at the other side of the coin, like the suffering caused by it all. Ya know, to the soldiers and Holocaust victims. With your talent and my video camera, we can come up with a great project. What do you say?" she said looking at him hopefully. Matt sighed before he nodded in agreement. 'I'm a sucker for chicks with that look on their face.'  
  
End of Chapter 4  
  
Read and review this one or move on the next part. 


	5. AntiRomeo and Juliet Act II

Pepper and Peppermint: by Evolutionary Spider  
  
Chapter 5: Anti-Romeo and Juliet- Act II  
  
'Aww man, I'm so dead.' Christy thought as she looked at the biology question in front of her.   
  
23) Our atmosphere contains several gases. Circle the gas that is in the most abundance:  
  
a)Nitrogen  
  
b)Oxygen  
  
c)Methane  
  
d)Hyrdogen  
  
She groaned to herself and tried to think of the answer. 'I know I studied this! Why am I forgetting it now? I know it's an easy question, so why can't I figure it out?' She looked up at the clock to see she only had 5 minutes before time was up and she still had 2 questions to go. She looked around her, hoping something in the room would jog her memory. Her gaze eventually fell on the boy sitting ahead of her diagonally. He was looking out the window and seemed to have already completed the test. He scratched the back of his neck and looked behind him. His gaze met her own, which caused her to look down. She circled 'A' on the question she was on and prayed it was the right one.   
  
The bell rang soon after and the teacher called pencils down. All of the students got up to gather their things and laid their tests on her desk. Christy let out a groan as soon as she was out of the class. Before she could take a step out of the class, a voice startled her, "Killer test huh?" She looked behind her to see a boy smirking in her direction. Not knowing what to say she stammered out a "Uh, um, yeah, it was bad. I think I bombed it." She started to walk to her next class. The boy walked by her side as if it was the most normal thing on earth. Christy simply stared at him every now and then as he walked with her. After awhile he spoke up. "Maybe you'll get a 90% and tomorrow will be a good day." With those cryptic words he waved to her and turned a corner to his next class. Christy stood there dumbfounded in front of the door to her history class.  
  
"Yo Johnson, do you think you can get your head out of the clouds and let me into class?" an annoyed voice said. Christy snapped out of it and looked to see who had spoken. When she saw that it was Lorelei Fisher, she couldn't help but glare a little as she moved aside. "Yeah, nice to see you too princess." Lorelei remarked, giving the girl a glare of her own. Both girls walked into the classroom and took their respective seats.  
  
Christy was relatively bored through history and was off daydreaming. She only half paid attention to what the teacher was saying about their new assignment. It wasn't until she heard her name that she was shaken out of her thoughts. "Ms. Johnson, your presentation partner will be...Ms. Fisher." As soon as the words left Mrs. Alders mouth, twin protests erupted. "Mrs. Alders you can't do that!" "Your sticking me with the class ditz?!" Christy turned around and glared at Lorelei, who was a few seats down. "I am not a ditz, you reject." "Come over here and say that to my face dim-wit." "I would if I could tell the difference between your face and your as-"   
  
"Girls!" Mrs. Alders shouted appalled, "Settle down!" "Aww and I was in the mood for a cat fight. Meeooww." The whole class, except Lorelei and Christy, erupted into laughter at Seth Cutter's outburst. "Class settle down." Mrs. Alders called out, trying to remain calm. She held her head feeling a headache coming on. The class eventually stopped with only a few occasional snickers being heard.   
  
"Ms. Johnson and Ms. Fisher, I have never seen such behavior in my classroom and I would certainly never expect it from either of you. Your partner assignments will remain the same, no objections. I quite frankly don't understand where your hostility towards each other is coming from and I will not tolerate such behavior in my classroom. As punishment, the two of you now have an extra assignment. You will write a 1 page paper discussing the positive qualities in your partner and present it to the class. The two of you will stay today after school in my classroom working on it. Is that understood?" Both girls murmured yes.  
  
Mrs. Alders straightened her glasses on her face before she spoke again, "Alright class, pair up with your partners and begin working on your assignment." She gave a wary glance at Christy who sunk down into her seat. 'Oh man, this day has gone from bad to worse. First I bomb my biology test, then I have a spat with Lorelei in class and make a total fool of myself in front of everyone including Seth Cutter. Just what else can go wrong.'  
  
Lorelei plopped down in the empty seat on her left. 'Of course, how silly of me to forget that I have a big presentation with an ice queen. Ok Christy, time to play hardball, don't let her get under your skin.' "Alright powder puff, let's get one thing straight, you hate me and I hate you. Let's just get this thing over with, as quickly and quietly as possible so that we're out of each other's hair and-" "I don't hate you." Christy said confused. "Your interrupting." Lorelei said in an annoyed singsong voice. "Your assuming." Christy shot back in the same tone. "Like I'm supposed to believe that all the little evil looks you give me don't mean you hate me." "Yes. Besides your the one that started it. Look I don't hate you, it's just you annoy me, you have ever since you and Matt..." Christy didn't finish her sentence, feeling uncomfortable.   
  
Lorelei's face showed a brief look of surprise before she covered it up with her usual look of indifference. She was compelled to make the girl finish what she was going to say, but thought better of it. The other girl had told her exactly was she needed to know, she didn't need to pry further. 'Well if what I deduced so far is right, this week will be bearable.' she thought as she looked at the girl in front of her who was now flipping through the history book. 'Besides, it's not like I care anymore about what she thinks of the apostle. It's all moronic anyway.'   
  
Putting as close to a friendly face as she could, Lorelei caught the girl's attention, "Don't sweat the small stuff, girly, I say we do something on Joan of Arc. She was pretty cool. We could bring up what it would be like if she were alive today or something. Today she wouldn't have to deal with the same shit women dealt with in her time." Christy couldn't help but smile, "Even when you seem to be into something, you still sound like you don't care." "Yeah it's a gift." Lorelei replied still in her same indifferent tone. "Either way, your idea...is...a good one." Christy struggled to say. She'd notice the sudden personality change and couldn't help feeling Lorelei was up to something.  
  
"Alright then. How's this?" she said as she shut Christy's book closed, "You leave me alone for the rest of the period and we wait till after school to duke it out on how we're going to do this project." Lorelei didn't wait for Christy to answer as she got up and went back to her seat. She put her head on her elbows and appeared to be sleeping. Christy just stared at her in surprise and shook her head in annoyance. She cracked open the book again and started to read up on the era Joan of Arc was born in.   
  
Seth Cutter walked by her desk as he went to sharpen his pencil. He came back and sat down in the desk Lorelei had previously sat in. "Hey Christy." Christy looked up and smiled when she saw him. "Hi Seth. What are you doing here?" "What, do you mind?" he said giving her one of his bright smiles. "Uh, no, it's not that." "That's one hell of a partner, you've got there. Knowing her, your going to end up doing the whole project yourself." Seth pointed out as he leaned closer to her. Christy could feel a blush coming on. That's when a crazy thought came to her.   
  
'Wait a minute, what if Seth is the guy that wrote me that letter? He has started to pay attention to me more than before. Maybe my day is starting to look up.' "Well actually Seth, she isn't that bad. I mean she already came up with the idea for our project." "So right now she's civil. I've seen you two glare at each other all the time. I mean sheesh, she has got one hell of an attitude problem. Why do you to hate each other so much?" Seth asked as he looked in the sleeping Lorelei's direction. Christy visibly tensed up. She let out a sigh as she too looked in Lorelei's direction. 'I don't, can't find a reason to hate her. All I hate is that she was there. She beat me to the punch. She only annoys me because she knows she won. But if it was between me and her then he played us both. No, it's all his fault. Stupid Matt.' Seth turned to look at her, "Did you just say 'stupid Matt'?" Christy looked at him putting on an innocent face, "No, I didn't." "Oh, I must have heard wrong. It'd be pretty funny though if the reason you two fight each other is cause of that wuss Carrington." Seth laughed, with Christy laughing nervously.  
  
~~~  
  
"Achoo!" Matt sneezed. "Bless you." came the reply from his best friend. John smirked as he said, "Someone's talking about you." "That's a load of- a-a-achooo!" Matt rubbed his nose, "Man I must be coming down with something." Before John could respond, the sound of a whistle was heard. Both boys watched as Coach O'Neil came towards them.   
  
"Just what do you two ladies think your doing here?" the coach asked with his arms crossed. "Getting a drink of water sir." John said, not being able to stop the mocking tone in his voice. "Well that's fine and dandy Connor, but I need to talk to you two." The coach grabbed both of them, one arm around each boy's shoulder and he pushed them with him. "Your in P.E. class boys. Your here to exercise, play sports, learn teamwork." the coach said it all in a gentle manner that made both boys lessen their guard. The coach began the next part slowly, "So I'd like to know one small little detail......I want to know why you two maggots decided it was alright to get a drink of water without my permission! Games are being played right now ladies! Now get out there and join in or I'll make you two stragglers run laps until the sun comes down!" He blew on his whistle for good measure, sending both boys in an annoyed jog towards the field. Both boys exchanged a look of boredom as they saw what was being played. Eventually the two just took a basketball and played one on one fore the rest of the period.   
  
When the bell rang for the end of class both boys ran to get to the locker room. As both were changing into their normal clothes, John spoke up. "Oh yeah, I caught Christy staring at me during our biology test." John reached into the locker for his shoes and thus did not see his friend visibly stop putting on his shirt. "When it was over she seemed really bummed about the test. I told her not to worry about it." "What'd she say?" Matt asked as he finished putting on his pants. "Nothing really. She just stared at me like a dead fish or something. That girl is definitely weird." Matt didn't say anything else and finished getting dressed.   
  
The two friends walked off and went to their usual spot, in the quad area, under a couple of trees. It was a very isolated place from the other students of the school, perfect for a group of isolated people. Both of them dumped their things down and waited for the rest of their friends to show. They didn't have to wait long before they saw a boy with a blue Mohawk coming. "Hey look there's BlueJay." Matt laughed as he indicated to the boy that was coming near them. James Bartorni nodded as he came near them. He was dressed in black baggy pants and a dark blue t-shirt. On each of his wrists he had a spiked band and on his right eyebrow he had a small piercing. The other boy came up to them and gave a smirk when he saw them.   
  
"Hey John, Matt." he said as he did the special handshake that they all came up with. He dropped his things and leaned against a tree before he finally spoke again, "Idiots." John looked up to see James staring at three boys coming towards them. All three were engrossed in their conversation, but were laughing loudly at the same time.   
  
Simon, Bart and Thomas Perez were the only Latino triplets in Reseda. It was hard to distinguish them by physical appearance, even their family and friends had a tough time trying to tell them apart. The three boys were nearly inseparable and were known for being a little strange. Today they all wore jeans with white t-shirts. Each wore a different colored dress shirt, so that people could tell the difference between the three of them. The three boys stopped talking as they approached the other three.  
  
"Hey guys." All three said at once. Each in turn did the special handshake with the boy in front of them. "So did you guys hear about the chick fight in Alders' class?" Simon said as he ran a hand through his short black hair. "Oh yeah homes, I heard about that." Thomas said as he unbuttoned his red dress shirt and allowed the slight breeze to sway it about. "Sounds just like Lorelei to pick a fight." Bart said smiling. "Who told you this?" James said looking at three boys with his usual ice cold blue eyes. "pH told me." Simon said defensively, "He said that Little Lorelei had a verbal sparring match in the middle of history class." John smirked when he heard that. "Who'd she argue with?" Matt asked. Thomas spoke up, "Some preppy girl, I think her name was Chrissie, or something." At this Matt's eyes widened slightly, "Christy Johnson?" "Yeah, there you go." Thomas said smiling. "Do you know her?" Bart asked curious. His counterparts also looked at him expectantly. Matt felt uncomfortable under the scrutiny of the three pairs of brown eyes.  
  
"Yo." All six boys looked up to see the last and oldest member of their group come. "Hey Philip." the triplets said at once. Philip just raised an eyebrow at them before he continued to greet them. John looked up from where he was sitting and asked him, "Why are you late pH?" Philip just put a hand behind his head and laughed, "Yeah, sorry about that guys. I had a little trouble in science class. We were dealing with chemicals and Roxanne kinda spilled some on me." He unzipped his navy blue jacket to reveal his white undershirt. He took out a black rag from his jacket pocket and tossed it to Matt. Matt held up in front of him with a confused look on his face. "What the hell's this?" Philip answered embarrassedly as he cleaned his glasses, "It's what's left of my t-shirt." All seven boys were quiet, until John, Matt and the triplets began to laugh at the look on his face. Even James cracked a small smile at the scene.  
  
"Well we don't call you pH for nothing." John said taking the rag in his hands. "Yes your the only idiot here, that's dumb enough to get his clothes burned off with acid every semester." James spoke up dryly. "Heh well alright, now that we're all here and for once without Lorelei and Roxanne, let's begin with the meeting." John said now standing up.   
  
All seven boys were now standing and looking at him. "So did you and Matt deliver phase one of the plan?" Philip asked him. He searched the pockets of his brown khakis looking for his notepad and pencil. "Yeah." Matt said distractedly. He snuck a glance across the quad field to look at Christy and her group of friends. Philip nodded as he crossed off something in his notepad. "Alright then, now we move on to phase 2." John said with a smirk. The other six smirked as well.   
  
~~~  
  
Christy laughed at the joke her friend Andrea made. Judy, Petra and Kate were rolling on the grass laughing. Andrea was imitating Mrs. Alders using Judy's glasses. Christy felt much better about her morning now that she'd told her friends. She smiled at Andrea, feeling happy to have a friend as funny and wild as her. Andrea took off the glasses and handed them back to Judy. "Alright, let's get down to business ladies. What are we going to do after school?" Kate felt like speaking about Christy's letter, but thought better of it. She deemed it unimportant to tell the others until she found out some more about it. Besides it wasn't her gossip to tell. "How about we go to the movies?" Petra asked. Her voice had a Russian accent to it reflecting her recent arrival to America. "Yeah I can dig that jazz cats." Judy answered after she finished cleaning her glasses on her poodle skirt and placing them back to their proper place. "Rain check." was all Christy said. "Yeah the movies sound like fun. You in Kate?" Andrea asked the girl. Kate briefly glanced at Christy who gave her an encouraging smile that told her to go and have fun. They could search for her secret admirer later. Kate nodded. Judy, Petra and Christy began to argue about what movie the girls should watch.  
  
Andrea plopped down next to Kate. "K, what's with the get up?" she asked pointing to Kate's clothes. "Nothing. I just felt like a change today." Kate lied, hoping her friend didn't notice. "Eh, I can respect that. I will miss you though. Little my little you won't be there anymore. A day here, an hour there and suddenly you'll be girly all at once." "What do you mean? I just felt like it today" Kate said. "Yeah, hahaha, and today you and I aren't the tomboy twins." Andrea said as she adjusted her baseball hat on backwards. She looked out across the quad area. Kate followed Andrea's gaze to where the jocks hung out at. "Just remember Kate, the guy that truly deserves you, is the one that can truly see and accept you." Andrea got up and joined the other three girls. She settled the disagreement and made fun of the other three for fighting in the first place.  
  
Kate looked back at the jocks, looking directly at Paul Ramirez. He was laughing with his friends as they threw a football at each other. She looked at his handsome face and could feel herself melting a little more. She wondered if Andrea meant that her crush on Paul wasn't worth changing herself. She looked down at her clothes. She would admit that the clothes weren't as bad as she thought they were when Christy first suggested she wear them. She knew deep down though that they weren't really her. Maybe some day, but right now they're temporary. When she thought about her crush on Paul, she knew that it too was temporary, but that still didn't lessen how she felt. No, for now these feelings were here to stay whether she wanted to or not.  
  
~~~  
  
"Just look at them all, like god's little ants. They're all happy, sad or angry at some mundane thing, brought about by their own faults. They don't realize how what they feel, their pathetic problems, their very lives are of no importance in the great scheme of things. They're just empty space until they die. Even then, their little demon spawn take their place. All of them are growing and yet have learned enough knowledge to fill a spec of dust in comparison to a universe of knowledge." Roxanne said. The slight breeze, blew her shoulder length blonde hair, lifting up the top strands that were dyed with wisps of brown and black in them. The wind began to pick up more and blow the ends of her black dress and trench coat. She took another puff of her cigarette as she continued to glare at the crowds of teenagers that were hanging out in the quad area. Her piercing brown gaze went towards the football players. "Those modern day Neanderthals are the worst." "Hate humanity much?" Lorelei said, as she too took a drag from her cigarette. She gazed down to where John and Matt were, "Huh, looks like another meeting of the retarded apostles is getting underway." Roxanne sat down Indian style next to her.  
  
Lorelei still found the roof of the cafeteria's building to be something of a surprise, even though she had been up there many times before. What made it so surprisingly appealing was that, from high up there, one could see the whole school hidden from view, but still well enough to make out the details of people. She looked at the group of boys that were almost hidden from view because of the trees. All seven of them were standing in a circle and Philip and Matt seemed to be explaining something. She ran her gaze through all the little cliques until she reached the football players. Unconsciously, she was seeking out the intriguing pair of purple eyes.   
  
"They're some of the worse ones. A group of nobodies, with no fate and no future. Take that moron that you have a thing for, Matt-" "You mean had for, Roxy. I don't anymore." Lorelei said, cigarette in mouth. "Bullshit, then why do you still flirt with him?" "Same reason why you come up here and analyze people rather than join them? It's fun, passes the time, and is harmless. My thing for him, sizzled out 3 weeks ago." Roxanne didn't say anything more. The two girls continued to smoke under the sunshine above them.   
  
Lorelei felt very much at calm up here with her friend. She looked down at Christy's group and finally spoke, "Did you hear about the apostles' plan to get revenge on the jocks?" "Yeah I heard, sounds like some stupid fun." "I don't think it'll work. The first part was to give Johnson, over there, a secret admirer note." "The beginnings of plans are usually slow and lame, till the action starts. What the hell are they thinking though, sending that note to her for?" Before Lorelei spoke, she crushed the cigarette she held before lighting up another one, "Turns out one of the jocks has a serious crush on her. They plan to turn Johnson away from him and watch the guy's heart break. I don't know all the details of their boring little plan, but I know that in the end, all the jocks are supposed to pay for what they do to our boys."   
  
Roxanne looked down at her watch to see there were only 10 minutes left until nutrition was over. She looked at Lorelei and voiced her question, "Why'd you stop liking Matt? You said you did a lot of things to keep him yours, so why'd you give up on him?" Lorelei had a thoughtful look on her face, before she turned back to her friend. "I've been at this school what? 2 months now? The first people that were nice to me were John and Matt. They made me feel welcome and comfortable here, even they're friends did. Later on you came here and I finally had a another female to talk to." "Yeah the testosterone level must have been through the roof before I got here." Roxanne joked. "Yeah. Sometime within hanging out and being around him I found myself into Matt, I had even thought he was into me too. Then I found out that while I was staring at him, he was staring that that powder puff Johnson. It wasn't so bad though because Johnson didn't even know he existed, but when she did and the two of them became chummy, let's just say I wasn't a happy person." "You've never been a happy person." Roxanne laughed, which made Lorelei flick her cigarette at the other girl. Roxanne caught it and put it out.  
  
"The ironic thing was, that both their best friends and little cliques didn't know a thing about that." she chuckled at the statement, "I did though. When I found out Matt planned on confessing his feelings towards Johnson, I wrote a letter pretending to be Johnson to Seth. It said that she liked him. It was perfect, at the very moment Matt was about to talk to her Seth was already there asking her out. I saw the poor dope walk away before he heard her answer." "So what'd she say?" Roxanne asked putting out her own cigarette and taking out some breath mints. "No." "Heh, guess she was sincere about him, cause she turned down Seth." "At the time it was a little too sincere for my tastes. By luck I saw Johnson sneaking a note into Matt's locker and I knew what it meant, but I still wasn't going to give up. I waited after school and followed Matt. I waited and then made my presence known. Before he could even respond, I just grabbed him and kissed him, at the very moment that Johnson came.   
  
It was all like a bad soap opera from there. He broke the kiss only to realize that Johnson was running off. He chased after her and they both argued as he tried to tell her the truth. I saw this all as if it was on TV. It got more interesting when Seth came along. Johnson went with him to spite Matt." "I would've loved to see all this.", Roxanne said with a smirk, "So what happened afterwards with you and Matt?" "I told him how I felt, but he just got angry and rejected me." "Man that must have hurt." "Actually I remember that when he did, it didn't hurt as bad as I thought it would. A week later he cooled down enough so that I could apologize. Took him awhile, but he forgave me finally."   
  
Lorelei stood up as did Roxanne. "It's not the same is it?" Roxanne asked her. "No, he doesn't trust me and I don't think he will for awhile. If he found out the whole truth, how I did other things to kill his chances to be with Johnson, I don't think we'll ever be friends again." Despite her serious tone, a little emotion slipped into her voice. "Why would he care? It's not like he still likes Johnson or anything. I mean look at them. They glare, insult and ignore each other all the time." Lorelei looked at her friend with a look that said 'Duh'. "You don't actually believe their act, do you? What happened didn't drive their feelings away, it made them bigger. When they think the other one isn't looking, they'll stare at each other. Those two still got it bad for each other, but they just don't realize that. They're pride won't let them admit it to themselves or each other. It's kinda pathetic to watch them fight because they just don't get it. Sometimes I think nothing short of the end of the world will get these two together again."  
  
With that said, the bell rang for third period and the two girls made they're way down the ladder that was connected to the side of the building. Both just walked in silence as they made they're way to biology. Roxanne thought about Matt and Christy, while Lorelei thought about how she was going to mess a little bit with the apostles' plan with the jocks. In her eyes, one of apostles needed to learn a lesson as well.  
  
End of Chapter 5  
  
End notes: Read and review. Tell me what you think. Next part will be here soon. It's about the first time Kate and John meet face to face. It's love at first sight, but not exactly for them. 


	6. Dog Gone It

Author's notes: Hey hope my handful of readers are fine and dandy. For the past few months I sure wasn't, but you're not here to read about that so here's the latest edition to my fic. Just for future reference in this story if you had eccentric middle school teachers like mine even go-carts are possible. Finally, John and Kate meet for the first time and I don't think it should be pleasant. Hope you like it.   
  
Summary: All actions must be done, for the odd and exciting outcome. Lorelei understands this, but Christy doesn't. Esperanza means hope in Spanish and maybe that's what Kate needs. Most people end up together by bumping into each other in the street or by going to the same places. Can friendship come from the actions of pets? Kate and John are about to find out.  
  
Pepper and Peppermint by Evolutionary Spider  
  
Chapter 6: Dog Gone It!  
  
"There," came the quiet answer from Paul Ramirez. He gave Kate an expectant look before gathering the next part that he knew had to be placed on the piston. Kate looked confused at the instruction sheets in front of her. She looked over at Paul who was looking at her again, waiting for her next instruction in putting together the engine.   
  
Thanks to a "generous" donation of go-carts and parts from a local junkyard (rumored to be going bankrupt), Mr. Gomez gave his advanced auto shop students a choice, use the go-carts for a very early final with smaller tests afterward or use them for tests and have a different final at the end of the year. Both periods of the advanced classes had decided on the former of the two options.   
  
Mr. Gomez assigned a go-cart to each class and added a bonus to his assignment to be finished by the end of the month. The main objective of the assignment was for his students to build a new working design. He counted on this new challenge to raise the competitive levels of his advanced students, knowing they would finally enjoy working with a real model. Each go-cart would be examined system by system to determine the grade of the students. At the end of the final both go-carts woutld be judged, but the go-cart that was put together the best will gain a free pizza party for that class. Mr. Gomez had broken down each of the systems that needed to be worked on and paired up his students in teams of two. To make sure everyone worked together, both class had been assigned a leader group. The leader groups consisted of two individuals that were in charge of overseeing that the completion of the go-cart be done on time and were assigned the engine operation assignment.   
  
All of his advanced classes consisted of a handful of students that had been in his class since 6th grade. He had paid close attention to each period to discover which two students shone above the others. Since Kate and Paul were his best students for the third period class, he had announced them as the leader group for their class go-cart of an old black 1988 T-Fire model.  
  
She blinked in confusion when she saw Paul take the sheet from the work table and hold it up to read. Kate saw his unusual purple eyes scan over the sheet rapidly. He placed it back on the table and picked up the parts again. Without saying a word, he began to place the pin inside the piston and attach the connecting rod. He reached over to the other side and grabbed a bearing to attach to it. He then placed the whole thing in the crankpin of the crankshaft. He paused his movements when Kate placed her hand over the incomplete piston. He looked up at her again, his eyes showing his confusion. Kate didn't look at him, but slowly moved his hands from the part as she tightened the nuts on the cap with a wrench. She looked over their work on the first piston on the crankshaft and smiled. She had to look up to meet his gaze, her own alight with uneasiness at the way he was looking at her.   
  
Paul Ramirez may have been the most popular boy in school, but he sure didn't act like it sometimes. As the captain of the West Hills Junior League Football Team, a top student in his classes, his personality didn't fit the label he'd been given. He was almost always with his friends, participating in the random acts of mischief, but he never bullied others like his best friend Seth did. He was always surrounded by people in some way or another, but there were times when he wouldn't say anything at all, merely listening and enjoying their company. He looked almost...contemplative, at least that's what Kate thought.  
  
He was a nice guy for the most part and a loyal and dependable person, which explained why so many considered him to be a friend. Nonetheless whenever Kate looked at him, she got the feeling there was something she wasn't seeing. Some part of himself that he was hiding from everyone, something that was hidden behind the amethyst gaze. The very gaze that was looking down at her now.  
  
"What?" she asked her tone belying the nervousness she felt.  
  
"Good job," he answered her. He gave her a genuine smile, before he resumed working on the next piston. Kate felt a blush coming on and turned away to keep working on the cylinder block in front of her. She nearly dropped the screwdriver in her hands when one of the girls in the class, Alice, walked up to talk to her.  
  
"Hey, sorry to startle to you," the dark skinned girl said with a chuckle.   
  
Kate pulled out a rag from the pocket of the mechanics jumper she wore and wiped her hands with it. "It's ok. So what's up? Are you and David done completing the go-cart design?" The third period class had decided that in order to increase their chances of winning the go-cart contest, it would be a good idea to repaint the old and musty colored model. Alice and David had volunteered for the task, since their system would not take long to complete and the two saw it as their chance to let out their artistic impulses.  
  
"Almost, but trust me, it's gonna be killer. We'll win that contest for sure. No way is 5th period going to win. Connor and Fisher might be a tough act to beat, but I think with some of our own creativity we'll have an advantage," the other girl said with a grin.  
  
"Connor and Fisher?" Kate said confused. "You mean John Connor and Lorelei Fisher? What's the big deal about them?"   
  
"Girl, those two are the leader group for 5th period. Both of them are these two car freaks. Fisher's dad is a mechanic for this big car company and Connor's like Mr. Gomez's prodigy, the guy came to this school already knowing how to fix cars. It's really weird."  
  
Kate's eyebrows rose slightly. She knew she'd seen the boy often as she'd walked down certain hallways, but she just never really thought about him that much. He didn't really stand out that much except when he was pulling some stunt with his circle of friends. She gave Alice a confident smile and said, "Doesn't matter, third period is still the best and we're so going to kick their butts."  
  
Alice laughed as she high-fived the other girl, "Girl, now that's the attitude I wanted to see. If you're going to be our leader girl you gotta be tough." She waved to Kate as she walked back to the car lift to keep working on the tire and brake system. Kate turned her attention back to the cylinder block and attached the next piston to the crankshaft. She and Paul continued to work quietly for the rest of the hour, occasionally sneaking glances at each other when the other wasn't looking.  
  
~~~  
  
Christy stared out the window of the language building. Her chin rested on her upturned palm, her gaze looking over at the view she had of the sports and track field. With only 5 minutes left in class she started to tune out Mrs. Bastón's lecture on the correct way to conjugate walk and run in a sentence. Her mind started drifting to her day.  
  
It hadn't started out the best, with that killer biology test or that history presentation or the English essay due by the end of the week. Thank god she'd found solace in math class. Math would probably always be the one thing she could excel in better than most. The proof in her A+ grade from their recent math test. It had made her slightly smug to have gotten a better grade to Lorelei's B- or Matt's C+. It had even gained the attention of one Seth Cutter, who upon seeing her grade had asked for her help in tutoring him tomorrow after school. The question had caught the slight attention of Lorelei, but the other girl had only looked expectantly, wondering as well what she would do. Christy didn't think the girl was looking at her in any negative way, just genuinely curious.  
  
Christy thought back to how she had politely agreed to it, but noticed Lorelei's and even Matt's surprised looks. Something about what she saw on their faces, wouldn't leave her mind. Like they knew something she didn't. Christy shrugged it off, the two acted weird all the time, it shouldn't have surprised her now.  
  
She took her gaze from the window, to skim through the class until it fell on the head of spiky hair above a pair of folded arms, the person fast asleep at his desk. Christy stared at Matt for a few seconds before she heard ring of the school bell. 'Oh joy, now I get to spend quality time with my favorite ice queen,' Christy thought sarcastically.  
  
~~~  
  
"Girls what's all the noise in here?" Mrs. Alders said as she came back into the room. Christy and Lorelei both froze from their positions before they looked up at their annoyed teacher. Mrs. Alders had heard the yelling and noise the two girls had made as she'd approached her classroom. Lorelei only sighed and gave Christy a brief glare before she picked up her things and dropped a sheet of paper on Mrs. Alders's desk. She left the classroom quickly without saying a word.  
  
Christy frowned as well, before she too quickly gathered her things and left her own sheet of paper on the teacher's desk. She was about to walk out of the room, when Mrs. Alders's voice stopped her, "Christy, what happened in here? What was all the raucous?"  
  
Christy gruffly replied, "Brainstorming," before she waved a goodbye to her teacher and took off in the opposite direction of the other girl. Mrs. Alders simply sighed as she sat at her desk and began to read the two papers, hoping they would give her a clue as to what was going on.  
  
~~~  
  
"That movie was so lame!" Andrea yelled out as they walked away from the movie theater.  
  
"Yeah, you could tell when the guy decapitated that one chick, it was so fake," Judy piped in.   
  
"What a waste of $10 bucks," Kate added quietly.  
  
"Oh I don't know, these things you call jujubes are good," Petra said as she happily chewed on the new treat.   
  
The other girls looked at each other before simply laughing. They continued in their commentary of the film, before they stopped walking at the corner of the street. Andrea, Judy and Petra waved and said their goodbyes to Kate as they crossed the street to walk to their respective homes. Kate waved back before turning the corner and continuing on her own trek back home.  
  
Twenty minutes later she reached her neighborhood and her house. She stepped inside the empty house and shut the door behind her. She gave a brief sigh before continuing upstairs to her own room. She dropped her bag on her bed and sat beside it, as she took off her shoes and started to undress. She looked at her wrist watch in surprise not realizing the time, but speeding up nonetheless. She ran out of her room and down the stairs in a pair of faded jeans and a white t-shirt. Her feet had donned on her tennis shoes instead of the white sneakers. She ran out the door, locking it behind her and took off in a run down the end of the neighborhood. She slowed down when she saw a familiar white and brown furred bulldog begin to bark happily at her.  
  
"Hey Bella," Kate answered with a smile. She walked up to the old black gate and entered it, just as the dog pounced on her. She fell back on the grass and laughed as the hyperactive dog licked her face. She finally began to get up, Bella thankfully moved aside but still followed Kate as she walked up to the screen door. She tapped on it twice, the sound resonating inside the house. Kate opened it when she heard an acknowledgement from inside. Bella sat outside patiently, while Kate walked in making sure she wiped her feet on the mat.  
  
A delicious aroma greeted her senses, and Kate imagined herself floating to the smell coming from the kitchen. She walked away from the living room and pushed open the revolving door that led to the kitchen. Inside she was greeted with the sight of a familiar young woman with black sunglasses on. The young woman was cooking calmly and Kate could faintly hear her humming. A big golden retriever stood faithfully by the young woman's side and began to walk towards Kate, its tail wagging slightly. Kate bent down to pet the dog's head.  
  
"Pienso que lo calmaste. Antes, te miraba y se puso muy defensivo, pero ahora, te mira diferente y está contento cuando estas aquí." The young woman said with her trademark enigmatic smile. Kate looked at her thoroughly confused.  
  
"I said that I think you calmed him down. Before, he used to look at you and be very defensive, but now, he looks at you differently and he's happy when you're here."   
  
"Oh," Kate said smiling. "He's a good dog, you just need to get past the rough parts to get to the lovable goofball inside."  
  
"That's a good attitude to have towards life, Chiquilla. I imagine it will help you soon," the young woman said amused. Kate slumped her shoulders slightly, "Esperanza, why do you always talk like you can see the future? You always say these weird things to me that I never understand."  
  
"I can see the future, Chiquilla. Everyone can. You just can't yet because you're too young, but you will understand years from now what I mean. I may not always see this world, but I know what is still going on and what will be. Now before you further object about how that's impossible, have a bite." Esperanza gestured to the plate on the counter behind her. Kate saw a plate of some Mexican dish she always mispronounced. Tortillas had been filled with meat and vegetables and rolled into a cylinder shape, leaving both ends open. Kate had tried them before of course, but she wasn't all that hungry right now.  
  
"Esperanza, I went to the movies and I ate a lot already."  
  
"No, you ate a lot of junk food already. You're a growing girl, you need something nutritious. Flautas are good, and home-cooked food will be better for your system. I simply said a bite, have at least one and then go off with Bella for her walk." Esperanza said as she turned off the stove and emptied out the rest of the flautas onto a separate plate. Kate took one of the paper napkins from the holder and placed two of the flautas on it.  
  
"I better go now Esperanza. Thanks for the...f-lau-tas?" she said unsurely. Esperanza gave her a small smile and nodded for her to go. Kate gave one last pet to the golden retriever and walked back to the living room, heading for the hall closet. She found what she was looking for and sprinted out of the house, Bella hot on her heels.   
  
Kate bent down to attach the leash on Bella and held the top in her hands. She put the flautas in her other hand and opened the gate quickly. She almost wasn't able to close it afterwards with Bella's frantic movements. Once it was set, Kate slackened the leash slightly and Bella took off in a small trot, pulling Kate with her.  
  
The walk was familiar to both, the dog having been on the same path and sidewalks until the day her master began to lose her sight and Kate began to give her walks. The dog moved along steadily, looking to and fro at everything around her. Kate nearly dropped her last bite when Bella stopped, but slowed with her. They'd been walking for nearly 10 minutes and Kate looked down to see that Bella was sniffing the air, probably catching a new and exciting scent.   
  
Kate looked around to make sure somebody wasn't around them. There was some people in the park up ahead but she didn't think that's what was causing the canine to stop. In her distraction, Bella began to trot quickly again and the leash slipped from Kate's fingers. With a gasp of surprise Kate took off after Bella, calling out her name and yelling for her to heel.  
  
~~~  
  
"Ugh! Get your dumb fleabag off me!" the girl shrieked out. The German Shepard was licking the girl's face and wagging it's tail about happily. John pulled on Max's leash trying to get him off. He finally just gave up and grabbed the dog off her. He fell dog and all on the grass, and looked up to see a less than happy girl glaring down at him. He told Max to get off and was able to stand up quickly to apologize, but the girl simply huffed and stomped away angrily.   
  
"Wait! He was just being friendly, you don't have to-" John only sighed and shook his head. He glanced down to see his dog give him an innocent look of joy. He smirked and bent down to meet the hound's gaze.   
  
"Why'd you do that boy? That babe was starting to dig me. She thought both of us were cute." The dog barked in response. John nodded as he pet Max's coat, "Yeah your right, that girl needed to chill out. I gotta find a chick who likes crazy guys like me...with scruffy dogs like you." The dog barked again in response and John smiled as he saw the dog's tail move about. He was about to grab Max's leash again, when suddenly he noticed the dog stiffen up and sniff the air. John stood up quickly and looked around, only to realize too late that Max was running through a bush and further into the park. John cursed under his breath and took off after him, yelling commands at him to stop. He nearly stumbled over a large rock when he saw that Max was running head first through the water fountain.   
  
John slowed down in surprise when he noticed a white and brown colored bulldog leapt through a row of bushes, with Kate Brewster hot on its heels. The girl made a flying leap for the leash only to end up eating dirt as the dog leaped right into the fountain next to Max. John's eyes widened, when he realized that she wasn't moving. He squatted down and slowly moved her body to face him. He immediately pushed away a few strands of hair from her face when he saw the small red bruise on her forehead. He looked at the ground, until he noticed a large rock near her hair. 'She must have hit her head on the rock when she fell.' he thought. He saw her elbows and hands were scratched up a bit, but no other visible injuries. In his distraction of checking her body, he failed to notice her eyes fluttering awake.  
  
Kate imagined that if she was in a cartoon she'd be seeing little stars and running dogs above her head, but of course she was in the real world and what she really saw was far from that. She blinked a few times until she was able to focus on the figure above her. When she finally did she recognized it to be John Connor...and that he was touching her...touching her as he lifted her shirt.  
  
Kate panicked and roughly pushed him away as she sat up. John landed on his back with an 'oomph' and groaned as he held his stomach. Kate scurried backwards, but the movement caused her head to start throbbing again and the woozy feeling returned. When her eyes focused again, she saw him sitting up, holding his stomach, an angry expression on his face.   
  
"What the hell did you do that for?!" he said angrily.   
  
"How do you expect me to react when some strange guy is about to lift up my shirt?!" she answered back, a small flush appearing on her face.   
  
At the insinuation John quickly said "I was just looking for bruises on your stomach, not trying to get a peep show!"  
  
"You shouldn't have done that anyway, it's not like you could have helped me if I did have bruises," Kate replied.  
  
"I know more about medicine than you think, so I could have helped you if something was wrong." He rubbed his stomach, which she had kicked in her frenzy to get away from him. "Then again after the way you acted, I can tell the problem is in your head, so I can't help you there," he said smirking.  
  
Kate caught the double meaning and glared at him in response. Her gaze softened a bit though when she realized that between the two, he was the one with stomach bruises. 'I hit him harder than I meant to,' she thought guiltily. Without warning he saw her come closer to him and that now she was giving him a scrutinizing look.   
  
"What?" he asked defensively.  
  
"How bad did I hit you? Can I please see?" she asked calmly. John raised an eyebrow at the strange request and turn her mood had taken. He shook his head and smirked back, "Why should I lift up my shirt if you won't lift up yours?"   
  
Kate rolled her eyes at his remark, but tried another tactic. If he wasn't going to cooperate logically then she could surprise him into submission. She quickly looked around to make sure no one was near this part of the park, before she slowly lifted up her shirt to reveal that her stomach had no bruises. His surprised reaction made her blush and quickly pull down her shirt. She cleared her throat nervously before she spoke, "There, now it's your turn."   
  
He snapped out of his daze and shook his head in refusal. "Oh come on Conner, I showed you my stomach was fine, just humor me so that I know your ok," Kate said firmly.  
  
"I didn't ask to see it Brewster, you showed it voluntarily. Take my word for it, I'm fine," John said, hoping she would just drop it.  
  
"You're lying, I saw you rubbing your stomach a minute ago and your having trouble breathing probably because-"  
  
"your so damn infuriating, that's why." finished John. He stood up quickly, "You want to see my stomach so badly, then look!" In his anger he lifted up his shirt higher than he'd meant to and revealed his morning's bruises. He quickly pulled down his shirt when he heard Kate gasp in surprise.   
  
By now Kate had stood up and was frantically apologizing, "Oh my god. I'm so sorry John, I didn't mean to cause that. I'm really sorry," Kate babbled as she looked at him. John was about to turn away until her question caught him by surprise, "Who gave you the other ones?"  
  
He turned back to look at her seeing that her face was serious now. "What are you talking about?"  
  
"I kicked you pretty badly, but I didn't cause all those marks on your chest. I just want to know who. Did someone beat you up at school?"  
  
"Why the hell do you care? It's none of your business, so just leave me alone!" John yelled back. Something about the look on her face told John that he'd given her the answer.  
  
"I know more about medicine than you think, so I could have helped you if something was wrong," Kate quoted. "Come on, let's go put some ice on those."   
  
Kate waited for his reaction, but saw that he wasn't even looking at her anymore. He looked so utterly mortified that Kate quickly followed his gaze, and what she saw made her expression match his.  
  
There inside the fountain, Max and Bella were going at like a couple of horny hound dogs. The worst part was people had stopped when they'd noticed and made sounds of disgust, shock and laughter. Both teenagers felt their faces flush from embarrassment, and ran to separate their respective pets. The dogs saw them however, and both began to take off again with John and Kate chasing after them.  
  
"Max! Heel! Sit!"  
  
"Bella, stop! Sit! Heel!"  
  
The dogs in question began to slow down and obey the commands, but as John and Kate caught up to them, the two dogs were acting playful again. Kate managed to grab Bella's leash and stop the crazy canine from moving around. John had a harder time trying to control Max, but he finally was able to hold on to the dog's collar long enough to grab the leash.   
  
"Can't control your stupid-looking mutt Connor?"   
  
John stood up to face Kate and from her reaction he knew his ears hadn't lied to him. He slowly turned around to see the bane of his existence, Seth Cutter. John knew where this was going and looked up at the sky in annoyance. Why did god have to torment him every step of the way?  
  
End of Chapter 6  
  
End Notes  
  
Spider's Shout Outs:  
  
(because life's exciting without them)  
  
Ifty, ChEeZiSgOoD420, Bethe, florn, Mara Roberts, SeaFlit, DracosGurl-02, Rogue 14 and all others who have read the fic. 


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